


The Stars in her Eyes

by TheChatsMeow (yukisukinomoto)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, MLSS2020, Marichat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukisukinomoto/pseuds/TheChatsMeow
Summary: You can't see the stars in Paris. But a certain lucky kitty has found out that he can see stars much closer to home.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 14
Kudos: 75





	1. Home

The sky was black. He hated that. Paris was his city, and he loved it, but he wished he could see the blanket of stars strewn across the sky instead of the one or two that managed to peek through despite the light pollution.

Still, Chat Noir was staring up at the dark sky as he reclined on Marinette’s lounge chair. He had come for comfort. His father had been particularly cruel with his ‘constructive criticism’ at that morning’s photoshoot. His posture was terrible, his form was wrong, and was that an extra inch on his waist?

But Mari was not home. The lights were out in her room, at least. So he decided to take advantage of her balcony in the hopes she would be home soon. Nothing comforted him more than Mari’s warm aura.  _ Except my lady, of course. _ He mentally rushed to correct himself. But the fact of the matter was, Ladybug wasn’t usually available, and when she was they were a bit busy fighting or patrolling.

But Marinette…

Marinette was always willing to lend an ear. She still reminded him to be careful of his identity (because she was smart like that), but she would listen, and comfort him with pastries and physical touch. Her hugs and her scritches often started up the loud motor of a purr in his chest.

There was something inherently warm about Marinette. Something that felt like home. He hadn’t felt that way in his own house for years now, ever since his mother disappeared.

A noise clattered beneath him and he grinned. Marinette was home. She probably tripped over something coming into the room, but he knew she was always quick to pop back up whenever her clumsy nature struck. He slid down off the chair and crawled over to the hatch, peeking inside as she turned on the lights. And then he knocked loudly, grinning from ear to ear as she visibly jumped. “Oh  _ Purr _ -incess,” he crooned through the glass. “Your knight in shining leather has come to save you from boredom.”

Finding the culprit of her little scare, she glared up at him. "Is that so?” she ground out, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

“Uhhh… your knight in shining leather is now mildly scared of his princess. And cold. May I come in Princess?” He whined out. She rolled her eyes and nodded her assent. Not taking any chances that she was going to change her mind, he swiftly opened the hatch and leapt down, neatly avoiding her bed. “Why thank you, my oh-so-generous Princess.” He crooned, his hand over his heart. 

“I can’t believe you’re still calling me that. I’m almost nineteen, you know. Not exactly a princess these days.”

“Au contraire,” Chat leapt down from the loft and approached her. “You are beautiful…”

“Chat, you realize how misogynistic that is,” Marinette pinned him with a hard stare. 

“I wasn’t done, princess.  _ Ahem _ . You are beautiful, inside and out. You are kind, caring, and most of all have a certain affinity with animals. Especially this kitty,” he grinned and thumped himself on the chest.

“You’re one of those people obsessed with Disney princesses, aren’t you?”

“Don’t hate.”

“I would never.” She rolled her eyes and turned slightly to hide the smile forming on her lips.

“So what royal ball is my princess returning from?” He asked, sidling up next to her and nudging her gently.

“Oh my gosh, Chat, would you give it a rest?” She did her best to hide the fact she was on the verge of giggling outright. He was always so silly.

“Fine, fine, but only because I see that little smile on your face.”

She didn’t bother denying him.

“So what  _ were  _ you up to tonight? Anything fun?” Chat asked, plopping himself down on her chaise and sprawling out leisurely (much like a cat)

“Not really,” Marinette said, finally peeling her sweater off and unwinding the scarf from around her neck. “I had to help out at a catering event. Thank goodness they didn’t make me wear that uniform though, I would have frozen solid. It was an outdoor event.”

“In December?”

“I know, I know. It was like an outdoor market. We offered our services because the proceeds were all going to charity.” Mari shrugged, folding up her sweater and draping it over the back of her desk chair. “There were actually a lot of cute things being sold. I’m thinking about maybe participating in it next year on my own.”

“I bet you would be popular at an event like that. I can just see it now,  _ Joyeux Marinette Designs _ ,” He grinned, spreading his arms out wide. She snorted and eyed him whilst peeling off her gloves. “Well, I was going to get myself some hot chocolate. Would you like some?”

“Do cats always land on their feet?” He countered. She sent another hard stare his way. Okay, considering his record that may not have been the best thing to say. “Uh, yes please.” 

Marinette snorted. “All right, I’ll be right back. Stay out of my yarn, got it?” She wagged a finger at him before leaving through her trap door once more.

One time. It was  _ one _ time. He pouted. One time he got caught, all tangled up in her yarn, and he would never hear the end of it.

Big green eyes darted about the room, taking in everything. There was a smattering of photos all over the walls. What used to be mainly Adrien was more of a variety now. He had pouted at first, but it made sense for her to want to diversify. The wall behind her sewing machine was entirely plastered with her own designs. Gorgeous designs, if anyone were to ask him.

Then there were all of the photos of their friend group. Marinette, Alya, Nino and himself, all gathered around and grinning at the camera. His heart sank a little. Nino and Alya were both going to school in London right now. He assumed they would be coming back for Christmas but it was still a week until their school would go on break. He truly missed them. His eyes scanned over the rest of the photos. There were a lot of her and Alya together, and quite a few of her and the girls from their college class. But there were also a few of her and Luka, as a couple.

They had gotten together for a while, but apparently it had fizzled out rather quickly. Marinette seemed absolutely heartbroken over it. She said it was all her fault, but he had his doubts. He liked Luka, but he had that bad boy air around him (that he honestly sometimes felt jealous of). Luka had been in the States for the past two years though, working on a solo career in music. Last Chat had heard, the man was doing well for himself, hitting the top 10 on the charts fairly consistently. 

He was honestly happy for him. And yet he was also happy that his success was happening that far away. For Marinette’s sake of course.

He was knocked out of his thoughts at the sound of her trap door opening again and he hurried over to help her out, taking the hot mugs from her hands. “Thanks, Chat,” she chirped, carefully shutting the door behind her. She turned and presented him with a brilliant smile as she took her mug back. 

“No problem,” He returned with an easy grin. The pair settled down on her chaise, facing each other and sipping their chocolate in comfortable silence, relaxing and simply enjoying the warmth.

He truly loved these moments. Being enveloped in Mari’s warm aura. Being invited into her home where they could just sit and do nothing and he would feel recharged.

Marinette reached down to set her empty mug onto the floor beside them and turned her attention to the hero on the other end of the cushions. “So, Chat, what brings you by tonight?”

Chat faltered. For a while he had forgotten what had made him race to her balcony this evening. His ears drooped and he stared resolutely at his own empty mug. Her small fingers invaded his vision as she deftly plucked the mug from his hand and set it down beside hers.

“Chat,” She prodded gently. She would never force him to talk, he knew. He wanted to, really. But sometimes it was hard. It was so difficult to admit to his far from perfect home life. That was why he loved being Chat. He didn’t have to deal with Adrien’s shitty life.

He slowly peered up at her with those acid green eyes. “I…” He started, gently reaching towards her, enveloping her small hands with his own. “It was my father,” he uttered, looking down at their joined hands.

He felt her stiffen up and glanced back to her again. She looked… well, she looked pissed off. “I swear, one of these days I’m going to find out who your father is and I’m going to kill him,” She uttered.

“Now, princess, you know you can’t do that. Identities and all.”

She huffed and pried her fingers from his. He had no time to worry that he upset her because she immediately tugged him to her chest, encircling her arms around him. His face nestled into the crook of her neck and he sniffled.

“Let it out, Chat,” She offered, fingers expertly combing through his hair. He shuddered and let out a sob before it all came tumbling out of him. He would  _ never _ be good enough for his father. Everything he had done had been for him, and yet it still wasn’t enough. His shoulders shook as he cried into her neck. All the while she made small cooing noises to comfort him and stroked his hair and rubbed his back. 

When he finally stopped, he felt almost hungover. He had been holding onto it for much too long. “Sorry princess,” He uttered, moving to pull back, “I soaked your shirt.” 

However, Marinette was having none of that and tugged him back in. “It’s just a shirt, Chat.” Her breath tickled his skin and he shivered. “Never apologize for crying. I only wish I could do more.”

“You’re more than enough, Mari.”  _ Sometimes I feel like you’re the only thing holding me together _ .

She paused for a moment and pulled back to look at him. He found himself caught in those big blue eyes as they shimmered. She had cried with him, he realized. “Well... how about I let you beat me at UMS?” She offered, and he barked out a surprised laugh before quickly covering his mouth. She snorted and moved to kiss him on the forehead before moving from the couch so she could set up the game.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took so long to go up. This chapter is a tiny bit of filler, but I hope you like it

Adrien woke up early the next morning. Despite staying up late playing games at Marinette’s, he felt ready and raring to go. She certainly knew how to turn his mood around. He took the first few moments to simply stare at his ceiling with a little smile on his face. And he would have stayed that way for quite a long while if it hadn’t been for -

“Hey Kid! Hurry up, I’m starving!” his own personal tiny god floated up over his face and let out a small growl. Adrien huffed a breath out and rolled his eyes, sitting up and nudging Plagg out of the way with his hand.

“You know where your cheese is. What’s the problem?” Adrien rubbed at his eyes gently, trying to clear the remaining crust of sleep from them.

“The  _ problem _ ,” Plagg enunciated the word slowly as though Adrien wouldn’t understand it otherwise, “is that I ate it all last night when we got back because  _ someone _ decided he absolutely had to go hang out with his girlfriend last night.”

“She isn’t my girlfriend, Plagg!” Adrien uttered in a harsh whisper, standing. “Besides, I can’t sneak anymore for you from the kitchen right now without getting in trouble and anything I order will take some time to get here. It isn’t my fault you don’t know how to ration your cheese.”

Plagg huffed and looked like he was about to continue his argument, but suddenly grinned. “Then I guess we just have to go to your girlfriend’s place this morning so you can get me some of those cheese danishes!” He crowed, flying a victory lap around the room before diving back into the trash can. Adrien groaned and rolled his eyes, but a smile still rose to his lips. He wouldn’t mind seeing Marinette again this morning, even if she was different around him when he was Adrien as opposed to Chat.

She had definitely improved over the years. These days she could speak in full sentences, almost never stutter, hell she cracked a few good puns! He was truly happy she was opening up more to Adrien. But with Chat? With Chat she was relaxed, comfortable being 100% Marinette, and it may be greedy but he desperately wanted that on both sides of the mask. And each interaction he had with her as Adrien was an opportunity to close that gap.

So it was with high hopes that Adrien walked into Tom and Sabine’s that morning.

“Good morning Adrien!” Sabine greeted from behind the counter. There was a crowd already, everyone lined up to get their morning treats. Plagg may not get a chance to get his Danish after all, not if Adrien wanted to get to school on time. 

“Good morning, Madame Cheng!” He returned with a big smile. “I thought that Marinette and I could walk to school together?” he approached her, ignoring the grumbling of the customers. 

“Oh, I’m sure she would love that. What I’m not sure of is if she’s awake or not yet. You know my Marinette,” She playfully shrugged. “But if you want, you could go up and check. She needs to get going anyway!” 

“If you’re sure,” Adrien smiled once more, “Thank you Madame Cheng.”

He hoisted his bag up further on his shoulder and quickly made his way around the counter and up the backstairs to get to the apartment.

He made his way up the stairs into her room and smirked when he heard a soft snore coming from her loft bed. It was so very like Marinette to still be asleep. He was guessing that she had slept past several alarms at this point. He set down his school bag and shook his head in amusement as he climbed up to try and wake her.

But he stalled once he reached the top step.

Brain.exe has stopped working. 

He gulped hard, his mouth suddenly felt like a damn desert. Marinette was asleep all right, but she was twisted up in her sheets as though she had been fighting them off. Her shirt had ridden all the way up her stomach and he could see the swell of her breasts peeking out.

He snapped out of his stupor as she made a little moaning noise and turned and hurriedly scrambled down to the bottom level again.

Okay. He was fine. Everything was fine. He focused on deep breaths, trying to get his mind out of the gutter.

Of course he knew that Marinette was a girl. And she was cute but… never before had Adrien really pictured her as, well, sexy. The blood rushed to his face, which honestly was the better option for him because he would absolutely die if she (or gods forbid her mother) caught him with an erection in her bedroom. He felt dirty enough as it is thinking of his adorable, innocent, sweet friend like that. It felt sinful.

_ What the hell do I do now? _ He groaned, pacing as quietly as he could.

Finally he decided the best course of action: act like he had only just come in. He walked back to the door and opened it, and then slammed it as loud as he could before calling out. “Mari! I’m here to walk with you to school!” He was practically screaming at the top of his lungs. 

A surprised squeal sounded from the bed above, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was probably safe (lol sadly he doesn’t know there’s a Tikki in the room). “Mari, are you awake?” He called again.

“ ‘m up!” she called back weakly, groaning and turning over to peek over the railing at him. “Sorry, I’ll uh… I’ll be quick. Can you just wait downstairs?” She was blushing too, cheeks a bright red. At least he wasn’t the only one. He hoped that she would assume his cheeks were just red from the heat rising from the ovens in the bakery. 

As soon as he agreed, he raced down the stairs into the relative safety of the living room.

“Where’s my danish?” He groaned and glared down at the small god poking out of his pocket.

“Not now, Plagg.” He huffed, willing his face to return to a normal tone.

“Jeez, what’s wrong with you kid? See somethin’ that spooked ya?” With a snicker, Plagg sunk back down to settle in.

Great. He would never live this down again. 

He didn’t have long to languish. Only a few minutes later, Marinette’s voice carried down the stairs. “I’m ready!” She called, a short warning before she sped down the stairs and rammed into his chest face first. When she pulled back, her face was red and she quickly stepped away to give him space. “Uh, sorry. I just. Well. Late and I don’t want… Well…” She muttered, fingering the strap of her purse awkwardly. 

He couldn’t help but smile. She had definitely gotten better at speaking with him but she still seemed unsure of herself at times. “It’s all right, Marinette,” He chirped with a grin, just happy she was acting (mostly) normal around him. “We should get going though.”

“R-right. Of course!” She finally managed to look up at him and smile that gorgeous smile of hers.

They made their way back down to the bakery where Sabine stopped them on the way out. 

“Here, you best take these or you’ll be too hungry to learn,” She offered a bag to each of them. “Adrien, I put in a few different things I know you’ve gotten before.”

“Wow, thank you Madame Cheng!” He grinned, peeking inside the bag. Sabine was a godsend, having put a cheese danish in with a couple of croissants.

“Of course. Have a good day at school kids!”

She waved them off from behind the counter. Once they hurried out the door, she returned her attention to the next customer in line. “What can I get you, sir?” She asked.

“One cheese danish, please.”

-

Adrien and Marinette walked in relative silence, but he didn’t feel like it was uncomfortable. They were each nibbling on their bakery goodies whilst they walked. Tom’s croissants were absolutely heavenly, as always. He could feel Plagg squirming inside his shirt pocket, itching to get at his own little treat. They weren’t too far from the school now, Plagg could wait a few more minutes.

He was about to give his pocket a subtle little poke when a boom sounded from behind them. Both teens turned and went wide eyed as they saw the entire bakery bursting to the seams with what looked like soft cheese. Smelled like it too, Adrien wrinkled his nose and glanced at Marinette, immediately trying to come up with an excuse to separate from her so he could go and transform.

All thought stopped when he saw her disbelieving face. Eyes so wide they could roll out of her head with tears starting to leak out of them. Mouth opened as though she were screaming without sound. And her skin had gone completely pale.

But then she seemed to find her voice. “Maman!” She screamed out and made to run back to the boulangerie. 

“Marinette!” Adrien called, reaching out and grasping her wrist. This was  _ not _ the plan. He should have let her go, he needed to suit up. “You can’t go back there, you’ll get in the line of fire!”

Marinette glared at him, full on  _ glared _ . It was something he hadn’t been subject to since their first meeting and it honestly hurt. “Adrien, that’s my family in there. They can’t  _ breathe _ .” She gasped as though the meaning of her words hit her a second later. “I have to help. You can go hide if you want to but I can’t.” And with that, she wrenched her hand from him and sprinted back toward the building.

“Shit. Shit-shit-shit-shit-shit.” Adrien groaned and quickly darted into the nearest alleyway. He double checked that he was alone before calling for his transformation. And then he was the one sprinting back to the bakery. If he could reach her in time, he could get her to see reason. Marinette may not listen to Adrien about this but she had to listen to Chat Noir, right?

He thanked the gods that his bad luck didn’t stop him from catching up to her. He scooped her off the ground into his arms and sprinted back away to the very alleyway he had transformed in as she hit against his chest with closed fists.

“Let me go!” She screamed, those tears finally falling down her face.

“Marinette,” he uttered, setting her down but making sure to keep hold of her wrists so she wouldn’t run away again. “Marinette, please…” He uttered, trying to get through to her as she ranted about needing to go back to save her parents.

Finally, he had enough. “Princess!” She stopped at that and looked up at him, lower lip trembling. “I know… I know that you’re scared, worried for your parents, I do. But this isn’t something you can help with. You need to trust Ladybug to fix things. You need to trust me.”

Her shoulders drooped and she took in a deep breath. “I… I do trust you.” She uttered, leaning her head into his chest. He took a moment to let go of her wrists and curl his arms around her. “Please, please save them,” the whisper was so quiet even he had to strain to hear it.

“I promise,” he uttered and gently kissed her on the crown of her head. When he pulled back, she looked more herself, if a little more pink. “Please stay out of sight and safe, okay?”

“Okay, Chat Noir,” She nodded resolutely and stepped back from him. “Go on. Go save the day.” And though her smile was a little wobbly, it was there.

When he arrived at the scene once more, he glanced around, trying to find his lady, or perhaps where the akuma had gone to next. No Ladybug, unfortunately. But there was a suspicious looking gloopy trail leading away from the bakery. He would have to start there and hope Ladybug had already caught up with the akuma.

He started seeing people stuck to the ground with mounds of gooey cheese encasing their entire lower halves. What the  _ hell _ was up with this akuma? He groaned and picked up the pace, leaping forward to the next roof.

“Aha, so the cat has finally shown up!” Ah. There it was. Chat Noir grimaced and covered his nose, looking upon the entity before him.

The akuma looked like a man-shaped candle dripping wax all over the place. But by the stench? Not wax. Perhaps it wasn’t camembert (thank the gods for that small mercy), but it was certainly some other kind of soft cheese, and the bright sun this morning was not helping the aroma wafting off of the monster before him.

“I am-” The akuma began in a loud, boasting tone.

“Phew, sorry I’m late!” Ladybug inadvertently interrupted as she landed at Chat’s side. “Oh. Ew, what is that?” The way her eyes widened and she quickly slapped her hand over her mouth let Chat know she absolutely didn’t mean to say that outloud. It made him chuckle.

“I am-” The akuma started again but once again was interrupted, this time by Chat Noir busting out into a full on laugh.

“Not a gouda situation today, eh Bugaboo?” He grinned at her. Before she could tell him off or even roll his eyes, they were forced to quickly leap apart to dodge a giant glob of cheese the akuma had launched at them. 

“Enough!” The akuma screamed. “I  _ hate _ waiting. Every day I am expected to be the patient one, waiting, waiting, always waiting for others to be taken care of first.” Great globs of cheese were sweating off of him as he ranted at them.

Oh dear. Chat Noir felt himself sweating. He had a bad feeling about this one.

“All I wanted was a danish this morning, just one danish, and yet-”

Yup. There it was. The infamous bad luck of Chat Noir. He had managed to cause an akuma without doing anything. 

“- and now I, The Big Cheese won’t have to wait for anything ever again! Now it is time for everyone else to wait. Like you, young lady.” Big Cheese turned toward a civilian who just happened to be scurrying by and held out his left hand, showering her legs in gooey cheese that quickly hardened and cemented her to the ground.

Chat’s eyes narrowed as he caught a glint of light coming off the akuma’s wrist. Exchanging a glance with Ladybug, he nodded. Wrist watch it was.

It was twenty minutes later that Chat Noir and Ladybug did their traditional fist bump and victory cry.  _ (can expand this later) _

The two leapt onto a nearby roof to get away from the slowly forming crowd. Her earrings beeped loudly and he grinned and grabbed her hand, bowing over it for a barely there kiss on her knuckles. She snorted and pushed him away with one finger. “Gotta scat, kitty cat,” She smiled and backed away.

“No problem, my lady. I need to check up on a friend anyway.” he grinned at her and got ready to leap away so that he could check that Marinette and her parents were all right now.

“Wha-what?” He heard Ladybug squeak out, but he had already launched off from the roof.

“Sorry My Lady, gotta run!” He called back to her before focusing on getting to his Princess and her family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I'm terrible at actually doing battles. Mostly because figuring out the lucky charm is something only Ladybug can do.


End file.
